Elton John tickling the NOLO ivories

Veteran rock star Elton John has joined the celebrity drinks circus with the launch of a 0% blanc de blancs "wine"

The British singer-songwriter and his partner David Furnish have unveiled Elton John Zero Blanc de Blancs, a drink made from chardonnay grapes grown in Italy and made in Germany, industry website drinks business reported.

The beverage is being positioned as an alcohol-free alternative to Champagne, prosecco of cava and is being launched in the UK, including at Sainsbury’s supermarkets, priced at £10 (around $20).
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The grapes from northern Italy have been sourced by Liberty Wines co-founder David Gleave MW, drinks business says, while it is made in Germany - which is hotspot for no-alcohol "wine".

Elton's new drinks is fermented but not de-alcoholised, putting in doubt whether it should be categorised as wine.

While most 0% products are created by taking a normal-strength wine and then removing the alcohol, Elton John Zero Blanc de Blancs is made as a 0% ‘wine’ from the outset by fermenting grapes with ‘good’ bacteria that don’t produce any alcohol. Similar to kombucha. 

It also includes green tea extract to add a touch of fine tannin, and has added CO2 to add fizz.

John has a well-publicised struggle with alcohol addiction, which ended in 1990, when he became sober. Furnish gave up alcohol in 2014.

“It really came from something we wanted and needed in our life and in our home,” Furnish said. “Both Elton and I are teetotal, and we love to entertain.”

One place where alcohol-free wine is not welcome

No-and low-alcohol wines might be riding a wave of popularity but the Church of England has banned alcohol-free wine from Holy Communion. 

The church has ruled that alcohol-free wine cannot be used in Holy Communion, as it would violate ecclesiastical law, wine news website Decanter.com reports.

Church leaders were asked to consider allowing alcohol-free wine and gluten-free bread alternatives during the Eucharist ritual.

They ruled, however, that using alcohol-free wine would break Church law, as the process of fermentation would be ‘nullified’.

They also decided that wheat alternatives such as rice flour, potato flour or tapioca flour cannot be used to make the bread or wafers taken during the ritual.

The Rt Rev Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Lichfield and chairman of the Church’s Liturgical Commission, said the Church was not prepared to overturn two settled positions.

"First, that bread made with wheat and the fermented juice of the grape are the elements to be consecrated in Holy Communion; and second, that receiving Holy Communion in one kind in a case of necessity is not an 'exclusion' but full participation in the sacrament, as often practised in the communion of the sick, or with children," he said.

"Indeed, even believers who cannot physically receive the sacrament are to be assured that they are partakers by faith of the body and blood of Christ, and of the benefits he conveys to us by them."

Sound like weirdo Mumbo Jumbo to you? Me too. 

Holy Communion is a key sacrament of the Christian faith. Worshipers take bread and wine, which symbolise the body and blood of Christ. The service is a memorial of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Canon law states that the bread must be made from the ‘best and purest wheat flour that conveniently may be gotten, and the wine the fermented juice of the grape, good and wholesome’.

Some priests and congregants are unable to consume gluten and alcohol, so they cannot take the bread or wine.

A five-day meeting of the General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, is currently taking place in London. Ahead of the meeting, the Rev Canon Alice Kemp asked Church leaders to ‘enable the legal use of gluten-free and alcohol-free elements at the Eucharist to remove the injustice of this exclusion’.

Church leaders reiterated that the bread used in the sacrament must be made from wheat flour, while the wine must be the fermented juice of the grape.

The Legal Advisory Commission of the General Synod ruled that some alcohol can be extracted from the wine. However, it can only be ‘legally used’ if some alcohol remains.

The commission also said that low-gluten wafers can be used, but alternatives made from ‘rice flour, potato flour, tapioca flour, natural gum and water’ will not be permitted.

Are you ready for a $44 bottle of sparkling fruit juice?

Would you be willing to pay €29 (that's $44 in Australia) for a bottle of alcohol-free wine? 

Leading French wine brand Barton & Guestier, part of the Castel Group, is betting plenty of people are.

The fast-growing "no-lo" sector of the wine market is to be premiumised with the launch of the Nectarose brand, due to go on sale from the end of the year at €29 per bottle.

What is basically organic grape juice is 0.0% ABV and has natural rose aromas, with carbonic gas added to balance the palate with its 50 g/l of residual sugar.

At this price “the positioning is that of alcohol-free Champagne,” wine industry newsletterVitisphere reported Petra Frebault, marketing manager for the Barton & Guestier brand as saying.

Interestingly, the range will probably not be released in France.

Designed for the export market, Nectarose “targets seawater therapy centres and spas whose female clients want to treat themselves”, as well as “women who like sport and want to reduce their alcohol consumption," said Frebault with impressive sexism.

“This is a niche market,” said Barton & Guestier's sales director, Philippe Marion.

"Alcohol-free is very much associated with the lower end of the market in the United States, so we need our positioning to be unmistakably premium to reach out to consumers who want to treat themselves.”

Good luck with that Phillipe.

Barton & Guestier started making wine in Bordeaux in 1802 and now exports wine to over 130 countries. Its showpiece is the Chateau Magnol (pictured above).